Unicorn
by Not That Girl
Summary: AU. Kieldra's only life is that of Shang student. She's happy there, and it's the only place she had ever called. But fate has much, much more for her to do than become a legendary Shang warrior. Story not very violent, bitses of humour.
1. Prologue & Chapter One

A/N: This is what you get when you combine a very bored girl and her 6th grade assignment notebook. Totally random fic about my first-ever Tortall character. Hopefully people will like it -- if you guys do, maybe I will actually be able to finish it... especially cuz I know when and how she dies... anyway... On with the story!  
  
**Unicorn**  
_Prologue_  
  
Daine looked down at her newborn daughter. The infant girl's eyes were closed, her small face relaxed almost completely. Sighing, she handed the baby to its father.  
  
Numair Salmalín gazed at his daughter with the same adoration as his lover. She's perfect, he thought, wondering what name could ever fit her. His only child...  
  
He closed his eyes, suddenly blinking back tears. He hadn't known about the baby until just a few weeks ago... and Daine had insisted from the very beginning that any child of hers would not grow up as she had. And Daine spent to much time in the palace -- after all, she lived there -- for people to not know about the child.  
  
Numair would marry her -- he hadn't hesitated to ask, but they both knew that there would always be speculation, rumors that the baby's father was someone else. Neither would subject their firstborn child to that. And now, looking at her peaceful face, he knew he would never allow it.  
  
They had one option left. Their child could-- disappear, "die" soon after the birth. _Not die_, thought Numair angrily, _just... go away._  
  
"We'll still have her, in a way," Daine said softly. "We'll still be able to see her, to... watch over her. She'll just never know us... as anything more... than two famous mages..."  
  
"Who she'll know very well," added Numair, bottled-up emotion making his voice tight. He handed the child back to her mother.  
  
The Wildmage accepted the baby, then burst into tears. Her little daughter...  
  
Numair sat down on next to her on the bed, wrapping her in his arms. Only a few more hours, he thought, and then they'll come...  
  
After Daine's tears had dried, she glanced up at her lover, her voice still quiet, barely audible. "Should we name her?"  
  
Then she answered her own question. "No."  
  
"It's best to let them name her."  
  
Daine and Numair both knew it would only be fair to let their daughter's adopted parents name her. They had wanted a child for so long, but had none yet. And Daine, thinking about her old friend, knew that Buri and Raoul would give her the right name for the daughter of the Commander of the Queen's Rider's and the Commander of the King's Own.  
  
Smiling slightly, she wondered what would her daughter do if she discovered that her real parents were the Wildmage and one of the most powerful black-robed mages ever to exist. The poor girl would have a lot to live up to.  
  
"If you could name her, what would you?" she whispered to Numair.  
  
"Mahaia," she answered.  
  
She smiled. "I would call her Andraste."  
  
Daine would never forget the pain she felt as she gave her daughter to Buri. "Take care of her," she told her friend. "Love her."  
  
_Chapter One: Fifteen years later, Maren_  
  
Kieldra took her food from the head of the kitchen staff with a grin and a mocking salute. She slid into a chair near her best friend, Iseult, and Drystan, who had been her first friend here.  
  
"So, how's life treating you?" inquired Drys innocetly.  
  
"Yes, how is it?" echoed _his_ closest fried, Samnang, who was half K'mir, as he sat down.  
  
"Everything was was lovely until _he_ came," she replied.  
  
"Why, oh why do you hate me so, Kieldra?"  
  
"It's not just her," chimed Iseult. "_Everybody_ hates you -- except, of course, Drys."  
  
"I have to be nice to people," complained Drys. Kieldra choked on her milk and accidently spewed it across the little table. This caused Iseult and Samnang (or, as he was more commonly known, Sam/"You there!") to laugh as well, and eventually the four were all laughing hysterically, earning them strange looks from the newest Shang students and long-suffering glances from those who had been there longer.  
  
For Kieldra, the Shang school was home.  
  
"Ahem," came a magically-magnified voice from the head of the mess hall, startling the four friends out of their amusement.  
  
"Today, we welcome several new students," began the Shang Owl. He continued to drone on as Iseult whispered, "He should be the Shang Cockroach."  
  
"Shang Ant," Sam retorted.  
  
Drys shook his head, then informed them, "Shang Tree Branch."  
  
Kieldra had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing -- particularily because in a way, it made sense. "Shang Wet Tree Branch!"  
  
"Why a wet tree branch?" asked Drys.  
  
"'Cause they're no use to anyone!" muttered Sam.  
  
"That's just uncanny," Iseult told him. "It's just what I was going to say."  
  
"Me too!" murmured Kieldra.  
  
They glanced at each other for a moment, then Iseult said, "You should get along very well with him -- nobody likes him either!"  
  
"No, he hates everybody."  
  
"He hates you, Drys? Whyever would he do that?"  
  
"Says I'm a show-off."  
  
"You are," the other three told him.  
  
"He calls me a chaterbox," Iseult said matter-of-factly.  
  
"You are," from her three friends.  
  
"No I'm not! There was that one time last year when I hardly said anything for a week! I don't think you guys have forgotten that! And I really don't talk too much, he's just so boring I can't help but try to take my mind off his awful lessons, and you all are so quiet somebody's go to make up for it. Besides--"  
  
"So," interrupted Drys, "what about you, Kiel?"  
  
She sent him a muderous glare. "_Don't_ call me that! My name's Kieldra! You've heard he thinks I'm a know-it-all already."  
  
"And I, of course, am the insufferable prick," lamented Sam.  
  
"Big suprise there," Iseult whispered heatedly.  
  
"Shh, he's looking at us!"  
  
When the Owl's gaze swung their way, all four were apparently paying full attention to his speech. He continued, "I trust that all our new apprentices will be most excellent, and obey their new training master in all things."  
  
Applause rose from the crowd of students, the brand-new ones clapping the loudest. But Iseult was too worried to cheer. "Apprentices? I think we missed something. Who's going to be the apprentices?"  
  
Drys turned to his friend. "Don't worry, they'll read the names like they do every year. It'll probably be me and Kieldra this year though."  
  
Iseult and Sam were even more worried at this. Their two best friends? And besides, they were all the same age. Why those two?  
  
However, Drys and Kieldra hadknew why, and they were expecting to have to leave their friends behind this year. They were both nearly fifteen, and their ten years of study at the school were over.  
  
Kieldra couldn't remember a time whem she hadn't known Drystan Franger. He was the bastard son of wealthy Marenese merchant, and his mother hadn't known anything better to do with him then ship him off to the Shang school, and he had been here since he was four.  
  
She, on the other hand, had been found alone in the Tortallan wilderness by a group of Shang. They had taken in the four-year-old girl, and she had become one of their own. Her only family was here -- she couldn't remember anything about her past life more than her name. And she treasured it.  
  
The Shang didn't allow anyone to begin training until they were five, so she and Drys had started at the same time, and they had been friends from the beginning, with no parents who they really remembered, no life before training, except watching other people train.  
  
Sam and Iseult had both arrived at the school when they were eight, and though they didn't know it, they would have to train until they were eighteen. Drys and Kieldra had gotten on the good side of many of the masters when they were six or seven, and had been told there were ten years of training. It wasn't knowledge most people here had.  
  
The Owl started reading the list, and the first two names were "Drystan Franger" and "Kieldra of Tortall." Kieldra's face twisted into a smile at the "of Tortall." No one really knew where she was from, but they had found  
Disclaimer: This is the last [beep]ing disclaimer I'm doing. I don't own it. It doesn't belong to me. Je ne le possède pas.  
  
Once the list was finished, Sam said regretfully, "I wish I was an apprentice. Then I could leave this place faster."  
  
"Remind me again why you're here?"  
  
"My parents have a son in knight training, a son in the Tortallan King's own and a daughter in the Queen's Riders. They figured a Shang son would round out their family of warriors nicely."  
  
Not one of Sam's friends could resist smiling. He was down-to-earth in a way few nobles were, and they still had a hard time believing he was the son of Buriram Tourakom and Lord Raoul of Goldenlake.  
  
"Ah, I'll miss you, Sam," sighed Drys.  
  
"I won't," Kieldra informed him pertly.


	2. Nearly Normal NotQuiteEveryday Shang Stu

A/N: Here is chapter two, which is longer than chapter one. Which is good. And yes, mll, forestalling any questions, I changed her name. And Jade Limill: Thanks. I will finish this. Especially because I have the last chapter all planned out....  
  
---  
  
_Chapter Two: Nearly Normal Not-Quite-Everyday Shang Student Life_  
  
A loud bell clanged somewhere, and Kieldra groaned. She had waken every morning at dawn for eleven years, from the time she was four, and she still didn't like it.  
  
She rolled out of her cozy bed and into the cold stone floor of her chamber. It was small, with her bed jammed into one corner. The wooden door was at the foot of her bed, and on the wall across from the door hung her assortment of weapons. By the head of her bed was a window, which mercifully faced west, and across from the window was her wardrobe and a mirror with a small sink.  
  
Jumping off the freezing floor -- northern Maren was cold, even at the beginning of summer -- she stepped over to her wardrobe, where she put on a warm pair of breeches and a long-sleeved shirt. Then she moved to her sink, where she splashed cold water on her face, as she did every morning. She glanced up and caught her reflection in the mirror.  
  
Her face was almost permanently tan from long hours in the outdoors, training yard or the wilderness that surrounded the school. Half of the fighting lessons were done outside, to teach the students how to fight on rough terrain. Her light brown hair was longer than most female students', but Kieldra liked her hair so that it barely brushed her shoulders.  
  
Her eyes were gray, with the smallest hint of blue, the light color standing out amongst her darker-eyed friends. Sighing -- she hated getting up early -- Kieldra grabbed a sword and her personal favorite weapon, a morning star, off the wall.  
  
She moved into a routine with the morning star after buckling the sword around her waist. No weapon practice today, she realized, and removed the sword after she finished the morning star pattern.  
  
Leaving the room, she went to see if Iseult was still in hers. After popping her head in, she determined that her best friend was at breakfast, and headed to the mess hall.  
  
Iseult waved to her from a table by the back wall. Kieldra smiled and grabbed her food, then sat down next to her friend.  
  
Where's Drys and the K'mir? she asked casually as Iseult began to eat.  
  
  
  
Kieldra rolled her eyes, and waited. Dunno. Probably--  
  
She was cut off by Drys and Sam's appearance in the hall.  
  
There they are, Kieldra said, sarcasm dripping from every word.  
  
The two girls ate as much as they could before their other friends sat down. How's it going?  
  
No one answered Drys, for both Kieldra and Iseult had their mouths full. When Kieldra finished chewing, she sent a strange look to Drys. You see us every day. We live in the same place. If anything important had happened, you would have known about it already. Yet you persist in asking that question. Why?  
  
He thought for a minute, then answered, It's fun to annoy you.  
  
  
  
He paused again. You say odd things when you're annoyed.  
  
  
  
Ask yourself that!  
  
  
  
Will you_ stop_ saying   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Drys sent Kieldra a death glare, then turned to his food. Kieldra smiled innocently at the passing Shang Owl, who returned it with a suspicious gaze.  
  
Moving on, said Sam. Who do you want to be your new master, Drys?  
  
This time, he answered without any hesitation. I _want_ the Horse.  
  
Isn't he really strict though? Iseult asked.  
  
Yeah, but he's fair and he's nice, as well.  
  
What about you, Kieldra? inquired Sam through a mouthful of oatmeal.  
  
I was thinking... the Hawk would be nice. She's got a lot of experience and she can probably teach me stuff these guys-- Kieldra jabbed her thumb in the direction of the Owl -- can't.  
  
Iseult began, but she's also really tough! Did you see her the last time she was here? She knocked out Davic Hennings for talking back to her! And most of the other masters stay out of her way--  
  
That's what I mean. She's spent a lot more time as a Shang than most of the masters, so she's got to be really good--  
  
Drys and Sam sent each other tired looks, and ignored the girls' discussion for the rest of breakfast.  
  
---  
  
After breakfast was over -- and Iseult and Kieldra done with their as Sam had put it -- they headed to the training room for the morning. The usual indoors teacher, the Shang Cat, was absent.  
  
Who's he? Sam muttered out of the corner of his mouth, meaning it for Drys -- but Iseult was the only one who heard his query about the substitute.  
  
Kieldra and Drys were both chatting animatedly to their favorite master, the Rabbit. He hadn't been at the school for nearly eight years, though both remembered him, Iseult and Sam had never met him.  
  
Hullo, there! You two are quite talkative today, aren't you? While I'd love to stop and talk, I do have to teach this morning's class, he chuckled, extricating himself from the two excited teens and moving to the center of the room.  
  
The Rabbit explained what he was doing there, who he was, and the assorted other things the students were curious about. Then he paired them off, the more experienced ones working with each other, and the four soon-to-apprentices against one another.  
  
As Kieldra and Drys moved through a complicated sequence, flipping over and practicing kicking upside down -- Kieldra wasn't good at that, though she could flip with ease -- several Shang masters filed in, unnoticed and in the shadows, to observe those who were going to be apprentices.  
  
Drys continued to fight, landing several good blows while Kieldra attempted to dodge. She failed, but managed to get in several powerful kicks while she was at it.  
  
And the masters observed it all, watching carefully, measuring each.  
  
---  
  
When the Rabbit called for his students to halt, everyone was breathing heavily, though they were just beginning to be tired. Four hours of practice was hard work, but they had been dealing with it for a long time. For a moment Kieldra envied the newer ones, who were still learning the patterns and had only been fighting in pairs for two hours,while memorizing routines and practicing them for the other half.  
  
They were being complimented on their good jobs when a bell rang, calling them to lunch. Iseult, her Tyran-dark skin shining with sweat, came over to Kieldra. Rabbit's alright, eh? she asked, panting.  
  
Yeah. He used to be round here all the time, fore your time, little newbie, Kieldra teased.  
  
Hey, don' call _me_ a newbie! I been here seven... years... she wheezed.  
  
And still can't keep up!  
  
I'm just out of breath! she yelled before chasing her friend down the corridor.  
  
---  
  
At six, after dinner, all four were resting in Iseult's room. Hers was the cleanest of the four, and thus the most common place for their evening gatherings.  
  
Still want the Hawk, Kiel? Drys asked, attempting to rejuvenate their earlier conversation, only to be cut off by Kieldra diving at him.  
  
After an interesting situation in which Iseult pried Kieldra's hands off Drys' neck while Sam laughed hysterically in the background, they had returned to a fairly normal state.  
  
Her brown eyes solemn, Iseult intoned, And the moral of the story is... never call Kieldra Kiel, for she will attempt to kill you. And Kieldra is a Shang student.  
  
The Kieldra in question nodded. And I still want the Hawk.  
  
---  
  
They were all tired -- it had been a rather eventful day, and they were all used to the usual routine of Shang student life -- so they went back to their separate chambers at eight. On an average day, they stayed up until the bell (as Sam called it) rang, signifying that, well, they had too get back to their chambers _now_ or else they would face the fury of whichever Shang master found them plus a few.  
  
Kieldra sat on her bed and watched the sun set through her window. She sighed quietly. It had been a wearying day, but it had been a good one nonetheless. She had known she would be an apprentice, but hearing her name actually read from the list made it fantastically concrete.  
  
Someone knocked on her door. Startled into awareness, Kieldra opened the door warily -- and was face-to-face with one person she never thought she'd see.  
  
---  
  
A/N: Cliffie! Suffer!


	3. Apprentice's Life

A/N: I'm going to try to update this every day, in an attempt to finish it before school starts in three weeks. That's 21 days, so, um, I guess somewhere btween fifteen to twenty chapters?  
  
_Chapter Three: Apprentice's Life_  
  
"Tigress?"  
  
The woman blinked, then smiled serenely. "Yes. I didn't think you would recognize me, Kieldra."  
  
Kieldra snorted. "I don't know anyone who _wouldn't_, Tigress. Um, is there anything I can do for you?"  
  
"I'd like to talk to you, if you don't mind."  
  
"Sure," Kieldra stammered, then gestured towards the inside of her room. "The bed's the only place to sit..."  
  
The Shang Tigress' calm smile didn't waver; instead she said, "That's fine. I don't need to sit."  
  
As Kieldra sat down on the bed, she watched the Tigress intently. It easy to see how the woman had gained the title of that particular cat: by all appearances, she seemed calm, but Kieldra could barely see she was on alert, not relaxed in the least.  
  
"So... um... You said you wanted to talk to me?" Kieldra squeaked, fighting to keep her voice normal, and not quite succeeding. The Tigress was legendary, one of the best.  
  
The Tigress turned to Kieldra. "Yes. I've noticed that you have a lot of talent in hand-to-hand combat."  
  
Kieldra shook her head, more nervous than she had ever been.  
  
"Yes, you do. You and Drystan Franger are at the best at the school, and you know it."  
  
She had known she was good; she could beat Iseult and Sam easily, but she had always figured it was the influence of growing up around Shang, and nothing more. Besides, she had been there longer than anyone else, with the possible exception of Drys.  
  
The Tigress continued, "You could benefit a lot from time fighting other people. That's not what I wanted to say, though. I've come to ask you whether you'd like to be my apprentice."  
  
Kieldra gasped involuntarily; her eyes went wider than she'd previously thought possible. "Me?" she croaked.  
  
"You."  
  
"Um, Tigress, are you sure you want me to be your apprentice? I'm sure there are a lot of other people out there who are just as good as I am and could benefit more from working with you than I possibly could--" she babbled, only to be cut off by the Tigress saying, "Yes or no, Kieldra."  
  
Her mouth answered automatically,"Yes."  
  
The Tigress smiled. "Good. We'll leave the day after tomorrow."  
  
---  
  
When the dawn bell rang, Kieldra was awake in an instant, the nervous excitement that had kept her up most of the night back.  
  
She got straight out of bed, fully awake. After dressing, she started for Drys' room, wondering if a master had spoken to him last night.  
  
She banged into him halfway there. He was paler than she had ever seen him -- in fact, he looked just like she felt. "Who?" she asked.  
  
"Centaur." His voice, like hers had been last night, was a croak. "You?"  
  
"Tigress."  
  
They glanced at each other, then walked in silence to the mess hall.  
  
---  
  
Iseult and Sam were in awe of their two friends. Sam gaped through the entire meal, only stopping when Kieldra poked him and said, "Why are you amazed, Mr. My-Parents-Are-Two-of-Tortall's-Most-Famous-People?" He had gagged, then drawled, "She's cured!"  
  
"I hate you, I hope you know that," she had chirped back.  
  
They had gone to lessons as usual. Even after seven years, Sam still had a hard time carrying his sword, halberd, quivers and bows to the weapons training area, which this morning was outside. Several of the new kids gawked and pointed at the fifteen-year-old student struggling through the hallways. After he threatened to attack two or three, the rest left off.  
  
The weapons master, the Shang Basilisk, treated them no differently than he ever had, and pushed them hard all morning, occasionally moving fallen tree branches into their way and digging small holes in the earth before them with his sky-blue Gift.  
  
Lunch and the afternoon were the pretty same as breakfast and the morning, though the training was indoors. After dinner, Sam, Iseult, and Drys congregated in Kieldra's room and helped her pack.  
  
She didn't have much, and most of it fit in a canvas backpack. As she shoved five tunics into her bag, Iseult commented, "I'll miss you, Kieldra."  
  
"So will I," Kieldra answered. She gazed thoughtfully around the room, then marvelled quietly, "This is the only room I can remember. All my life, I've lived here. It will be hard to leave."  
  
"Aw," Sam smiledc mockingly. "Poor, poor Kieldwa."  
  
Kieldra dived for his throat.  
  
---  
  
After Iseult had disentangled her friends -- Drys was laughing helplessly on the floor -- she glared at Sam. "Yet another lesson: do NOT mess with Kieldra, on pain of death!"  
  
Sam gulped, then scowled at Drys.  
  
Kieldra chuckled as she finished packing her clothes. All her weapons needed taken care of, and she polished her sword before sheathing it andplacing it next to her pack. She glanced up to grab her bow, only to find that Iseult had it and was packing it away. "Thanks," she murmured. Iseult smiled brightly. "It's the least I can do."  
  
Iseult also took care of Kieldra's quiver, bolts, and crossbow while her friend polished and packed her morning star.  
  
They spent the rest of what little time they had talking about many things, varying from who Iseult and Sam wanted their masters to be someday to the things that they had done in the past to what they wanted to do in the future. Drys thought that when they left in a few days, the Centaur would take him either to Tyra or Tortall. "If you're in the Tyran capital, do you think you could give this to my family?" Iseult requested, and gave him a note from her pocket.  
  
Under ther friend's questioning gazes, Iseult blushed and said, "I've been wanting to mail them that for a while, but I keep forgetting."  
  
When the last bell rang, her friends departed, leaving Kieldra alone. She was becoming accustomed to the fact that she would be travelling with the Shang Tigress for the next few years, but she still was nervous. She didn't knwo the Tigress at all, except by a few stories that had circulated through the school. She was originally from the Yamani Islands, or her parents were -- nobody was certain -- and she had, according to rumor, been a trickster once, though sometime during her apprenticeship to the Shang Wildcat she had changed, and was now quiet and reserved, though one of the best fighters in the history of Shang combat.  
  
Thinking about what her life might be like over the next few years, Kieldra lay down in bed, and eventually fell asleep.  
  
---  
  
The Shang Tigress and Kieldra left early the next morning. Kieldra barely had enough time to say goodbye to her friends before they were on the road.  
  
After an hour's walking in silence -- neither the Tigress nor Kieldra had a horse -- the Tigress interrupted it. "Kieldra," she began, "To tell you the truth, I'm still not used to being the Tigress, and as I know your name, I would prefer it if you would call me by my name, Chanda."  
  
"Thank you, T-- Chanda." Kieldra noticed a trace of true amusement in Chanda's face, and smiled in return.  
  
"So, tell me about yourself," Chanda commanded, and her new apprentice, sensing that she was going to like travelling with the Shang master, began to narrarate her life story.  
  
---  
  
They stayed in a relatively run-down inn that night. The food was good, though, and Kieldra enjoyed not sitting in the mess hall for once. She observed the other guests while Chanda talked to someone nearby.  
  
"Kieldra!" she called, waving. "Come meet Gretchen!"  
  
Reluctantly leaving her meal, Kieldra walked over to Chanda and her friend. "Hi!" Gretchen welcomed her cheerily.  
  
Seeing the confused look on Kieldra's face, Chanda explained, "Gretchen went to Shang school for a few years, then quit before she got to apprentice rank."  
  
"Decided to see the world," elaborated Gretchen. "Never got farther than this inn. I'm one of those rare bouncers who've studied Shang."  
  
Kieeldra decided she liked Gretchen. The young woman's sunny disposition and friendly, down-to-earth manner reminded her of her friends.  
  
Then Gretchen's face broke into a wide grin. "This is one of the cushiest bouncer jobs in the world, though. Everybody knows that the Shang school is just down the road, and not many people are willing to tangle with a Shang."  
  
"That makes sense," Kieldra conceded sagely. "But why didn't you go any farther?"  
  
"Stayed here and got into a fight. Manager offered me a job as bouncer and fired the old guy. Anybody could see that I'd studied Shang if they watch me fight once, and besides, the job pays well."  
  
They chatted with Gretchen for the rest of the evening, then retired to their rooms. Kieldra was reveling in being up and around later than nine-thirty at night.  
  
Lying awake on the cheap mattress, Kieldra thought: _I'm going to love this life._


End file.
